APA National 18 – The Big Easy Aftermath

This year’s American Planning Association (APA) National Planning Conference (NPC) is a wrap. The no longer is there a deluge of planning geeks walking around New Orleans. Some living it up like sailors on leave, some spending their time over critiquing the planning-related decisions of the locale. The 45 minute lines at Starbucks are over as planners seek their caffeine highs elsewhere on their way home. New Orleans was fun and informative, but I’m happy to get back to home, to the upper Midwest.

One of the highlights of the conference to me was the words of the opening keynote speaker, Derreck Kayongo. Born in Uganda in 1970, Derreck’s early life was impacted by the brutality of the regime of notorious dictator Idi Amin. His path of escape lead him to the United States and eventually to leading The Global Soap Project (which is now Clean the World). Derreck was a vibrant, funny, and inspirational speaker. APA has put his speech on YouTube for all to see. It can be found here:

APA Opening Keynote Speech

By Sami99tr CC BY-SA 3.0 License, from Wikimedia Commons

As usual, there were some sessions that were mind-numbing enough to make one take a long walk off a New Orleans short pier. However, there were plenty of sessions that provided good tidbits of information. Useful concepts not only of use in my regular job, but for this blog as well. Stay tuned for posts on subjects like regional economic partnerships, New Ruralism, and even autonomous vehicles. Yes, autonomous vehicles will have an impact on the rural Midwest, possibly sooner than you think too.

For now, this tired, weary soul will enjoy coming home and settling in while dreading the fires expected at work tomorrow.